AS THE SAYING GOES, there’s no such thing as being a little bit pregnant. When it comes to freedom, the same applies: People either are free, or they aren’t. Either they’re sovereign individuals who own their lives and the results of their productive efforts, or they’re servants to the state. If basic rights are always subject to a majority vote, it’s not liberty, but mob rule.
Free trade is one of those rights. As philosopher Ayn Rand wrote, “political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries.” People who aren’t free to trade their property, time or productive effort in accordance with their own values aren’t free at all.
Yet slowly, under the leadership of both major political parties, free trade has become systematically exorcized from civic life. Most citizens, the business community included, now completely accept that the government has a right to regulate, orchestrate and otherwise micromanage their affairs in any fashion it sees fit. (more…)